Saturday, 26 July 2014

Hot Dogs!

Walking on Selsley Common at sunset

Hugo and Pip have been finding the last few weeks of hot weather very tiring and they seem to be sleeping most of the day. However, they do have sudden bursts of activity using a ridiculous amount of energy which might only last a few minutes but it leaves them huffing and puffing and collapsed on the floor. Hugo often tries to provoke Pip into having a bit or rough and tumble with him by finding out one of his favourite toys and then placing it on the floor in front of her while she is sleeping. He will then attract her attention by poking and pawing her with his foot. Once she has spotted the toy (or old pop bottle, flowerpot, feather - whatever is his prize at that time) and makes any move towards it, that's it, he has the excuse to attack her (all good natured, a lot of rolling around on the floor nibbling each others ears and making funny half growling/half wining noise). When Pip wants to start the nonsense she will stand in front of Hugo with one of his toys in her mouth until he spots her and the whole process begins again.This morning I sorted out the dogs toy box which was full of dismembered stuffed toys, old drinks bottles and other toys in various stages of degradation. Watched closely by Hugo and Pip I got rid of a whole carrier bag full of debris - even what is left looks pretty disgusting but these are their prized possessions so I didn't have the heart to throw the lot out. Think a trip round the charity shops for more stuffed toys is on the cards in the near future.

Hugo making sure his favourites weren't thrown away

Chilling after a long walk and swim

We have been leaving the main walk of the day until after 9pm in the evening as it is usually much cooler then and there are far less people around but today we have more cloud and it feels a bit fresher so Martin and I decided to take Hugo and Pip out around 11am. We walked from home and went along the canal and stopped off at a little café for an ice cream - Hugo was not interested in this but Pip finished both off (vanilla and mango were equally delicious in her eyes) and the man behind the counter gave them a bowl of ice cold water which Hugo immediately demolished with much slurping and slopping . We then carried on and made our way to the meadows where the River Frome flows through. To begin with Hugo and Pip were only interested in snatching gulps of the water where they could get down to it but then we came to one place where they could walk in easily and we spent about fifteen minutes letting them walk through the water. Pip just stood there, up to her belly, with a huge smile on her face while Hugo crashed through the reeds and kept to the bank. We didn't get back until after 1pm so, needless to say, I have two crashed out dogs, cooling off and drying out with the aid of the fan. Don't think they will want to go out later, they've had plenty of exercise for today.